019 ♔ voice/ action on the Nightfury backdated to the 4th

[anelegantmyth]

Day three hundred and eighty seven.

Three hundred and sixty seven days since the day I first boarded the USS Booyakasha. Three hundred and twenty nine days since the first time I got stabbed. Two hundred and eighty nine days since I felt true heart break. Then again forty eight days later, and again thirteen days ago.

One hundred and eighty nine days since I got my first tattoo. Three hundred days since I got my first weapon. One hundred and eighty days since I last kissed a man and actually enjoyed it.

Three days since my hair turned short and black. Thirty three days since I admitted that I loved someone. Two days since I got shot and twenty one days till my birthday.

I like counting days. It lessens the blow to the fact that I've been away from my life and my friends and my family for a full year now.


...Marco, darling. I sent you a flower crown over the nav. I hope you like it.

[To anyone who actually needed her, she was in her library. Predenting to study, but really silently contemplating on life while she played with her crew ring]

Comments

Voice

[om_nom_namur]

All I hear is a buncha numbers. Math nerd, huh?

[anelegantmyth]

Like I said, I enjoy counting day. Nothing wrong with that.

[om_nom_namur]

Naw there ain't. Like math nerds. Right hand man back home was a math nerd. Be walkin' 'long readin' some damn book's got more numbers an' symbols'n words, hear some kinda commotion goin' on down some shitty alley or somethin' an' bam bam bam!, his damn gun's holstered 'fore y' even knew he'd drawn it an' all the shitheads makin' trouble in the alley's got holes in their heads. Meanwhile he's turnin' a page an' mutterin' somethin' 'bout tangents an' cosines. Hell if I ever knew what he was gettin' on 'bout but he loved it so I listened.

So d' y' jus' remember all that shit in yer head or d' y' write it down somewhere?

[anelegantmyth]

[She...uh...hold on, she had to read this a few more times before she could respond. See, she was used to Ning's brand of "slangglish as a second language". But this...this was new to her. Sorry, just give her a minute here.]

I...uhh...yeah no, I keep a separate journal in my room that I use as a day counter. I wanted to keep a daily jounral. But I didn't want it to be this one.

And your friend sounds really amazing.

[She might be in love, whoops]

[om_nom_namur]

[Billy got all the babes, tbh]

Sheheh yeah, ol' boy's some shit, that's for damn sure. Maybe some day he'll show up an' y' can meet 'im.

Makes sense 'bout the other journal though. Think there's a bunch a people does that. What other kinds a things y' keep tabs on?

[anelegantmyth]

I hope I do.

[Maybe it'd help her get over her crush on the captain, because that's be ruining her life for...some time now.]

Anything, really. It's actually a really stupid journal if anyone actually finds and reads it. I'll write down anything from "today I ate some soup then slept the whole day" to "well, I got kidnapped again". But then, it gives me something to do other than my quarter masterly duties.

[om_nom_namur]

Sheheh, well, t'day y' can write down first day I talked t' Namur, the most badass an' flippin' awesome fishman in all a history. An' some other shits too but mostly Namur. Sheheheheh!

[He scribbles a quick selfie so she can bask in the awesome.]

Any good at drawin', sweetheart?

[anelegantmyth]

...so that's your name. Okay, I'll write that.

"Today I met a fishman named Namur. He sounds interesting and I think I'm in love with his math nerd friend who can kill people while reading a book. I hope to gain that skill one day.

Also, I'm kinda hungry, and I can't draw to save my life. But here's an attempt anyway."

[AN ATTEMPT WAS MADE]

voice

[om_nom_namur]

Ugh, awwww c'moooon. Can't have Billy stealin' my 'maids even when he ain't even here! The hell? Shoulda known. Guy's too hot for Jones t' touch.

[His heartache is over exaggerated. It's obvious even from his tone that the person he's talking about is someone he holds dear.]

Sheheheh! Yer pretty cute though. What dumbasses is goin' 'round breakin' yer heart, huh? Want me t' kick their asses?

[anelegantmyth]

Oddly enough, you're the second person to offer to kick his ass for me. Marco offers that exact same thing every time we talk. But I keep telling him he can't because I need the guy alive.

You're sweet, fishman.

[om_nom_namur]

[In the book below her portrait, Namur starts sketching out another one: a full body shot of a lanky human with a long face and tiny round glasses, a bandolier strung over one shoulder beneath a long trench coat, a pair of pistols at his hips, a book in his hand. He signs it Billy ->]

Hey, great minds think alike. Sheheheh!

Written...sorta.

[heartismyown]

voice;

[anelegantmyth]

...aww

Written, walking around on the book, same thing

[heartismyown]

[Voice]

[fierybluebird]

Thank you.

[His voice is... well.... as deadpan as ever. So that's not much of a giveaway, but he definitely sounds extra dry and less like a chirpy idiot now.]

[IRONY.]

Your hair was turned short and black? Not by your own actions? [Notice too, the sudden not discussion of flowers. Mm-hm.]

[anelegantmyth]

[U OKAY BRUH?! She's not used to this. Is he mad????]

Nope, a bubble did it.

[fierybluebird]

[Nooooo...]

[It's a side effect for him of Leanne's island.]

[That and he's extremely pissed about a couple of things, but the more pissed off Marco gets, the more deadpan.]

Ah... My apologies Cynthia. [That's genuine at least.] I know how much care goes into hair.

Even mine has Thatch looking after it.

[anelegantmyth]

Hey, don't worry about it. That's twenty three...sorry, twenty four years of my life down the drain. But, I suppose, change is nice from time to time. Maybe it's the symbol of me finally letting go of Champion Cynthia and finally accepting Pirate Cynthia.

Or maybe I could finally experience low maintenance hair.

[fierybluebird]

And that's not something to worry about? That's longer than some of my little brothers were alive for.

In my experience, low maintenance hair is a myth. As I said, even my hair has Thatch fussing after it.

[anelegantmyth]

Darling, I got shot. My hair is the last thing I should be worried about.

[fierybluebird]

Sometimes we focus on the little things as they are the only tangible thing we can conceivably have control over, eh?

[OKAY PAUSE. RIGHT THERE? You can tell he's in a special mood, because it doesn't matter how honest that is, the fact that it IS that honest, instead of some flippant deadpan sarcastic joke or throwaway quip, is basically a dead giveaway.]

[Anwyay, carry on.]

[anelegantmyth]

I've given up the idea of having any control over my life while I'm here. I've been shot. I've been stabbed. I've disappeared and re-appeared more times than any normal being should in their entire life. I've been turned into a mermaid. I've fallen in love with a man from another universe and now, apparently, I have no control over my hair.

I dunno. I just...don't care anymore.

[But she is genuinely worried about you, Marco. She knows she told you no nicknames. But this just feels off.]

Are you okay?

[fierybluebird]

[That helplessness....]

[He recognizes all too well.]

[How many of those he loved would die no matter what he did?]

[Does it even count here? He's not closer to getting Ace back and he needs to. Needs to try something.]

[Then what...]

[Does it matter?]

[He can't answer her. He couldn't answer Thatch either.]

[Is that the distance of what it means to be a phoenix? Or is it just Marco being an asshole?]

[He doesn't know.]

Spring is...

[Eyes closed so he can drift off into memories.] My father always wanted to make sure I'd have the best memories in spring. He knew how I feel about it. But it serves as a reminder of how fleeting everything is.

[What was the point of one happy moment in a sea of misery? But still, it was important, wasn't it? He had this discussion with Ikki once. It was never resolved though.]

It's my father's birthday. [The sixth.]

I find being a captain in his footsteps intolerable. It seems I shall always want to please a dead man, and I feel like a child for wishing to seek his counsel, but even on the last day I had with him, he had so much to teach me, and I had too much to learn.

[anelegantmyth]

[Probably him being an asshole]

Anything I can do?

[fierybluebird]

Just forgive my bleakness, eh? This too shall pass.

Have you found your captain yet?